Real Black Blues

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

I use friendship speed juice swab between shots and in elephant , diamond back , Goex and most recently purchased 25# of Schuetzen , I have only burned a pound or so but not an issue

what did you oil the barrel with after cleaning.

friendship speed juice= 1/3 rubbing alcohal , 1/3 hydrogen peroxide ,1/3 Murphy's oil soap mix and keep in a small spray bottle spray a patch

good thing to snap 3 caps , wipe with a few damp patches then load

for consistency the patch after the shot should be the same going down and coming up each time , I do often flip that patch and put a ball in it just to conserve patches.

the other thing I prefer is 3FG and did find it to burn better especially in the light 25-60gr loads.

whenever I have had hard fouling it usually involved a mineral oil user to protect the barrel for storage after cleaning.

[FrontierMuzzleloading]

speed juice? that recipe is originally called moose milk.

[OverMax]

What ever brand of powder you find easiest to shoot. That's OK.
Although having problems seating patched ball in a fouled barrel. Most of the time I resolve such seating problem with the help of a big tree trunk.
When not in the mood to embarrass myself or when competing to win a turkey or 2-lbs of bacon. I keep one of these (link) in my day bag.
https://www.trackofthewolf.com/Categ...86/1/BALL-WOOD

[indian joe]

I also use moose milk for practice/fun shooting and do not have the fouling issues. Have gone 20-30 shots before wiping, even then was more to get ahead of the fouling problem rather than fix it. This was with 2f and 3f Goex and Elephant and Pyrodex RS. For hunting I use the pre-lubed TC or CVA patches. Rifles involved were 45, 50 and 54.

This thread is kinda funny - you have it figured out - if ya use a damp moose milk patch the ball is ALWAYS leaving from a clean bore - just like if we swab between shots but a whole lot less trouble - only problem comes if we sit around loaded for too long then the damp from the crud we pushed down the barrel with the patch ball can (it will) damp the charge to some degree

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

speed juice? that recipe is originally called moose milk.

I must admit I got the recipe as a good patch lube and on range cleaning solution , then years later heard it called Friendship speed juice as it was popular at the Friendship shoots I assume

I thought Balsitol and water was called moose milk or I had heard it called so.

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

I did a little searching it seems that both the 1/3 RA 1/3 HP 1/3 Murphys and the Balistol and water have both been called Moosemilk.

[rfd]

"moose milk" has become a generic term that can mean most any ratio of water soluble oil (such as ballistol or NAPA) and water, and in some cases other ingredients are added to that mix, such as soap and hydrogen peroxide.

[izzyjoe]

I use ballistol and water mix on my ticking, with a 2-1 ratio works pretty well. I can shoot around a dozen times without swabbing, I also shoot real BP, cause I was getting hang fires with subs and a good friend turned me on BP. I love shooting muzzleloaders, especially when I hit what I'm aiming at!

[Boogieman]

Boogieman,
Do you use this wet or soak your patch material and let it dry?

Sorry for the late answer. I use it damp, the oil is from N A P A auto parts. It can be used for cleaning also. One of the big things in fouling control is getting all the oil out of the bore before loading

[indian joe]

I use ballistol and water mix on my ticking, with a 2-1 ratio works pretty well. I can shoot around a dozen times without swabbing, I also shoot real BP, cause I was getting hang fires with subs and a good friend turned me on BP. I love shooting muzzleloaders, especially when I hit what I'm aiming at!

I use cutting oil and water 1:5 - that is plenty oily enough, plenty of guys use it at 1:10 - never seen Ballistol so dont know anything about it.

[hylander]

All is right with the world again.
Switched to Black MZ for powder and up'ed my lube.
Accuracy is good with no blown patches.
I can load several shots now without swabbing.
Clean up is a breeze as well.

[LAGS]

I am with Indian Joe.
I don't like to jump to all these Fancy Modern Go to products.
I stick to basics.
Partly because it keeps the past alive, but also, because I am CHEAP

[big bore 99]

After trying most of the subs, I like 777 in my .58 underhammer along with bore butter.

[indian joe]

Shoot at out local BP club last sunday
Used my 54 RB CVA Hawken 13 shots off the bench at 100yards....
100 grain FFg powder + 1" calico backer patch on the powder + 1.5 inch cotton drill patch on the ball - lube damp with moose milk
did not clean at all - put the rifle in the rack between events - not cleaned - and shot the second event, 13 shots no clean, left the calico backer patch out and cut the load to 80 grains for the 50 meter offhand - pulled two just into the white so I got a third or second - believe I coulda continued until I ran out of powder or ball without cleaning or compromising accuracy or loading at all -----easy as .........

[Fly]

My Question is why anyone choses to shoot black powder fire arms but wants to shoot something other than black powder. I under stand
the ones that buy the modern BP guns for hunting another gun season. But to by a conventional BP fire arm & complain about cleaning it,
is be on me? Oh well to each there own.

Fly

[Fly]

Joe was that your home made powder you were shooting?

Fly

[indian joe]

Joe was that your home made powder you were shooting?

Fly

yeah it was ........kinda cheatin eh

I shoot screened stuff in the ML - honestly have not been able to pick a difference in performance over corned (equal weight loads) - the screened is way easier to make and I get a lot less fines - just takes a bit more room in the barrel for the same charge. Corned powder for the cartridge guns and have chrono'd velocity spreads into single digit territory in my 45/70 if I load carefully....I am a happy camper.

[Ozark mike]

My Question is why anyone choses to shoot black powder fire arms but wants to shoot something other than black powder. I under stand
the ones that buy the modern BP guns for hunting another gun season. But to by a conventional BP fire arm & complain about cleaning it,
is be on me? Oh well to each there own.

Fly

MLs and bpcr both have there quirks but both are great fun I personally don't mind soot and fouling it's the name of the game just don't like pyrodex with its corrosive abilities I know some who can't stand a little unburnt powder in the barrel let alone black hands
I guess some think fun should always be clean fun

[Texas by God]

I miss the days when every LGS had real Blackpowder on the shelf. Not one store in North Texas (AFAIK)sells it anymore. Not even the gougemeister Cabelas. A pound would last me a long time but I'd rather not have to pay Hazmat & shipping to end up paying close to $40/lb.

[dave951]

For what it's worth, I stick with Old Eynsford in my muskets. I've found accuracy lacking and much heavier fouling with Schutzen, ymmv. With OE and the right lube, I can shoot 20 plus minies with accuracy and no swabbing. Accuracy does change with lube used. Two of my muskets really favor beeswax/lard lube, while the others prefer beeswax/mobil1 lube. Before anybody screams about motor oil, Mobil1 is a pure synthetic and doesn't cause any issues with fouling in real bp, it just works. Don't be afraid to experiment but if you find the fouling getting hard, it's probably the lube you're using or you're using Pyrodex. Most of the subs make harder fouling than the holy black and may react differently to your pet lube than real bp.